FF: Minister 'seems to be some sort of magician' when it comes to public sector pay rise
The Government is refusing to spell out how it is going to fund a pay rise for public servants.
Cabinet has approved a €20 a week pay rise for tens of thousands of workers from April, five months sooner than expected.
The Public Expenditure Minister says "efficiencies and savings" will deliver the extra €120m.
Public servants earning less than €65,000 were due a €1,000 pay rise under Lansdowne Road from next September.
However, after the special Garda deal from the Labour Court the Government now says it will bring forward that €20 a week pay rise to April 1, 2017, for all other public servants.
In return they must commit to not strike and it will only be available to workers signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
Minister Paschal Donohoe says he will find the money through "efficiencies and savings" without hitting services.
Minister Donohoe said: "We will find the funding to pay this cost while maintaining service commitments that we have, and that will be one of the key areas that I will work on this year."
Fianna Fáil's Dara Calleary says that explanation is not good enough.
He said: "He seems to be some sort of magician in terms of his ability to grab tens of millions out of nowhere at any give moment."
Labour leader Brendan Howlin says wider talks on pay are needed.
Mr Howlin said: "Isn't the solution the one I set out many months ago to open proper negotiations with all public sector workers to make sure everybody is treated exactly the same."
But the Minister says he is sticking to his plan for talks on a successor to Lansdowne Road later this year, after the public service pay commission reports.
"The Labour Court Recommendation on Garda pay issued on 3rd of November last had serious implications for the continued viability of the Lansdowne Road Agreement and this needed to be addressed.
"I don't accept at all that this is capitulation. If the Government had not accepted the Labour Court recommendation, [we] would have been standing in front of you having to deal with questions regarding why we undermined the final court of resolution for industrial relations within our State".
